A defendant who fled the Island on the second day of his trial was yesterday sentenced in his absence to seven years in prison.

Stephen Gladstone Thompson, 27, of Pembroke, had denied a charge of wounding Neville Andre Greene, 42, with intent to cause grievous bodily harm on April 29 of this year.

But yesterday a Supreme Court jury found him guilty and Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves sentenced him to seven years in prison.

He also ordered a summons to be issued for Thompson's surety, his girlfriend, to appear before court or a warrant would be issued for her arrest. His surety is believed to have left with Thompson.

Mr. Justice Greaves added: "This defendant cooked up a scheme. He left us so he's an international tourist now.

"In the opinion of this court, this defendant is a very dangerous man. In the midst of the trial he concocted a plan and duped the lawyers, judge, Police and everybody. Seven years' imprisonment whenever he's found."

He added: "Justice has long arms. It will always catch you where you fall."

Thompson fled Bermuda last week after firing his lawyer Charles Richardson. He had told the Judge that he had a meeting with lawyer Mark Pettingill, but he took the stand on Monday and told the judge no meeting had been arranged.

The court also heard that Thompson called the JetBlue Airways office in Bermuda at 10.58 a.m. on December 9 and booked a ticket to New York. He checked in at the LF Wade International Airport and the flight departed at 3.40 p.m. He was scheduled to return on Friday, December 12 but was a "no show".

Mr. Justice Greaves decided the trial should go ahead in the absence of the defendant and said: "It appears the defendant embarked on a scheme to skip court. Firing his lawyer was a ploy and retaining new counsel was part of that plan.

"The time he called the airline clearly demonstrated he had no intention of seeking any counsel or reappearing in any court. He may have had co-conspirators. The court has a discretion to proceed in his absence."

Before sentencing, antecedents on Thompson were read out which said he had drug convictions from the late 1990s for cannabis and cocaine.

Mr. Greaves added: "How this man got out of the Island and he's got all these drug convictions?"

The incident began over an amount of money Thompson owed Willis Smith, the owner of a taxi Mr. Greene managed.

On the day in question, Thompson approached Greene with his uncle about the money. Mr. Greene told Thompson it was out of his hands.

Mr. Greene said Thompson became aggressive and began waving a knife so he got a baseball bat out of his trunk to defend himself.

During a short scuffle, Mr. Greene slipped and fell toward Thompson and was cut on his neck. He went to the hospital where he received stitches for the eight-centimetre laceration.

Crown prosecutor Takiyah Burgess said Thompson's travel documents weren't surrendered because he wasn't considered to be a flight risk.

"There were no bail objections, he was never remanded or anything. It was straight forward," she added.

As for the next step, Ms Burgess said: "We need to find him first then make an application to extradite him if he doesn't come back on his own. The Police are investigating now to find where he is."